Fassbinder

Fassbinder

The Life and Work of a Provocative Genius

Christian Braad Thomsen
Translated by Martin Chalmers

Table of Contents
Filmography

$24.95 Paper
ISBN: 0-8166-4364-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4364-6

The revealing biography of this highly productive and radical film director.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder was the most innovative practitioner of New German Cinema. He worked at breakneck speed and in fourteen years made forty-four films, including Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1973) and The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978). Fassbinder ruthlessly attacked both German bourgeois society and the larger limitations of humanity, and his films detail the desperate yearning for love and freedom and the many ways in which society defeats that desire.

In Fassbinder, Christian Thomsen, a close friend of the director, illuminates Fassbinder’s body of work while revealing his insider views of a man who, despite a furious temper, manic working habits, and rampant drug addiction, supported an extended family—including his mother, a string of male lovers, lovelorn women, and even a pair of frustrated wives—with his intoxicating and prolific imagination. This book, like Fassbinder’s often-used image of the mirror, brilliantly reflects the sexual, political, and overwhelmingly human contradictions inherent in the life of this intensely creative man and the remarkable films he directed.

“An affectionate tribute to a great and underappreciated filmmaker.” —Times Literary Supplement

Christian Braad Thomsen is a Danish filmmaker and scholar.

384 pages | 32 halftones | 5-7/8 x 9 | 2004

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface
Acknowledgments

1. The Double Man
The Parental Home—Freud's Moses—Berlin 1969—Violence and Terror—Violence and the Erotic—Artistic Exile—Mirrors and Dolls—The Actors—The Filming of Language—Inner Images—The Utopia of Childhood—Death

2. The Sad Days Are Over!
The Two Short Films—Drops of Water on Hot Stones—Action Theatre—antitheatre—Iphigenia in Taurus by Johann Wolfgang Goethe—The American Soldier—The Beggar's Opera—The Burning Village—Preparadise Sorry Now—Anarchy in Bavaria—Werwolf—Blood on the Cat's Neck—Baal

3. Cinema Films
Love is Colder than Death—Gods of the Plague—The American Soldier—Whity

4. The Bourgeois Film
Katzelmacher—Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?—Rio das Mortes

5. Self-Criticism
The Journey to Niklashausen—Beware of a Holy Whore—Pioneers in Ingolstadt

6. Bavaria and Hollywood
The Merchant of Four Seasons—The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant—Wildwechsel

7. Television Series
Eight Hours Are Not a Day—World on a Wire

8. Women's Films
Fear Eats the Soul—Effi Briest—Martha

9. Video Films
The Coffee Shop—Bremen Coffee—Nora Helmer—Like a Bird on the Wire

10. Demanding without Loving
Fox and his Friends—Fear of Fear—Mother Küster's Trip to Heaven

11. Theatre Dreams
Germinal—Miss Julie

12. Loss of Identity
Garbage, the City and Death—The Anti-Semitism Campaign—Satan's Brew—I Only Want You to Love Me—Chinese Roulette

13. Fascism Will Be Victorious
Bolwieser—Despair—A Journey into the Light—Berlin Alexanderplatz

14. Terrorism and the Nuclear Family
Germany in Autumn—In a Year with 13 Moons—The Third Generation

15. The Mata-Haris of the Economic Miracle
The Marriage of Maria Braun—Lola—Veronika Voss

16. Commissioned Works
Women in New York—Lili Marleen—Theatre in a Trance—Kamikaze

17. Querelle

Notes
Filmography
Plays
Radio Plays
Bibliography and Discography
Index

[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[an error occurred while processing this directive]



Fassbinder The Life and Work of a Provocative Genius Christian Braad Thomsen Translated by Martin Chalmers Table of Contents Filmography		$24.95 Paper ISBN: 0-8166-4364-4 ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4364-6
The revealing biography of this highly productive and radical film director. Rainer Werner Fassbinder was the most innovative practitioner of New German Cinema. He worked at breakneck speed and in fourteen years made forty-four films, including Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1973) and The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978). Fassbinder ruthlessly attacked both German bourgeois society and the larger limitations of humanity, and his films detail the desperate yearning for love and freedom and the many ways in which society defeats that desire. In Fassbinder, Christian Thomsen, a close friend of the director, illuminates Fassbinder’s body of work while revealing his insider views of a man who, despite a furious temper, manic working habits, and rampant drug addiction, supported an extended family—including his mother, a string of male lovers, lovelorn women, and even a pair of frustrated wives—with his intoxicating and prolific imagination. This book, like Fassbinder’s often-used image of the mirror, brilliantly reflects the sexual, political, and overwhelmingly human contradictions inherent in the life of this intensely creative man and the remarkable films he directed. “An affectionate tribute to a great and underappreciated filmmaker.” —Times Literary Supplement Christian Braad Thomsen is a Danish filmmaker and scholar. 384 pages \| 32 halftones \| 5-7/8 x 9 \| 2004 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgments 1. The Double Man The Parental Home—Freud's Moses—Berlin 1969—Violence and Terror—Violence and the Erotic—Artistic Exile—Mirrors and Dolls—The Actors—The Filming of Language—Inner Images—The Utopia of Childhood—Death 2. The Sad Days Are Over! The Two Short Films—Drops of Water on Hot Stones—Action Theatre—antitheatre—Iphigenia in Taurus by Johann Wolfgang Goethe—The American Soldier—The Beggar's Opera—The Burning Village—Preparadise Sorry Now—Anarchy in Bavaria—Werwolf—Blood on the Cat's Neck—Baal 3. Cinema Films Love is Colder than Death—Gods of the Plague—The American Soldier—Whity 4. The Bourgeois Film Katzelmacher—Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?—Rio das Mortes 5. Self-Criticism The Journey to Niklashausen—Beware of a Holy Whore—Pioneers in Ingolstadt 6. Bavaria and Hollywood The Merchant of Four Seasons—The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant—Wildwechsel 7. Television Series Eight Hours Are Not a Day—World on a Wire 8. Women's Films Fear Eats the Soul—Effi Briest—Martha 9. Video Films The Coffee Shop—Bremen Coffee—Nora Helmer—Like a Bird on the Wire 10. Demanding without Loving Fox and his Friends—Fear of Fear—Mother Küster's Trip to Heaven 11. Theatre Dreams Germinal—Miss Julie 12. Loss of Identity Garbage, the City and Death—The Anti-Semitism Campaign—Satan's Brew—I Only Want You to Love Me—Chinese Roulette 13. Fascism Will Be Victorious Bolwieser—Despair—A Journey into the Light—Berlin Alexanderplatz 14. Terrorism and the Nuclear Family Germany in Autumn—In a Year with 13 Moons—The Third Generation 15. The Mata-Haris of the Economic Miracle The Marriage of Maria Braun—Lola—Veronika Voss 16. Commissioned Works Women in New York—Lili Marleen—Theatre in a Trance—Kamikaze 17. Querelle Notes Filmography Plays Radio Plays Bibliography and Discography Index